“What you have there, not only in Alberta, but right across the prairies, is a massive price war that’s been going on for about three weeks,” says McKnight. “(It’s) to the point where retailers are selling well below cost, they’re selling for nothing. The oil companies, believe it or not, are getting well below their wholesale price.”

McKnight says the reason is because companies are competing in “price wars.”

“Price wars are really to protect their market share. If an oil company losses a national account, it losses it not only in Edmonton and Calgary, but also in Saskatoon, Vancouver and Toronto as well. So, they have to fight in a war to maintain that volume.”

McKnight added that you can expect the price of gas to go up in the near future.

“This is a funny time of year, in 12 of the last 13 years, gas prices actually go up at this time. (That’s) because refineries go into planned maintenance, which means they’re getting ready for the driving season which starts at the end of May. So, they tweak the refineries to give a higher yield of gasoline to keep up with demand. So, that normally starts shrinking inventories.” (km)